(Whiz Comics 002-011, 1940)
I first wrote about the Mask back in the early days when I was trying to keep things short - a laudible goal and one I have not always stuck to, but there's such a thing as too short, especially when talking about Spy Smasher's only real enemy for about a year and a half. In the spirit of correcting that, here are some of the more interesting moments from the Mask's 1940 appearances.
To start, I had completely forgotten or perhaps never realized that the Mask was set up to possibly be Alan Armstrong, who is of course in actuality Spy Smasher. The only real swing at establishing the ambiguity of Armstrong's secret identity comes in their collective first appearance in Whiz Comics 002, when they are both established as operating out of estates in Virginia. After that it's just the Mask's hairline and the fact that neither of their identities have been revealed that are left to do all of the heavy lifting.
In Whiz Comics 003b, the Mask establishes a secret artillery base in the Rockies in order to shoot down US planes on behalf of the Rooskans.
Whiz 005 features him stealing a pretty nifty heat ray tank.
in Whiz Comics 006, the Mask attempts to destroy a new US battleship (and incidentally kill Eve and Admiral Corby) with a cheeky little exploding champagne bottle.
Whiz 008 features one of my very favourite types of henchmen: the former professional who has turned their skills to crime, in this case a former baseball pitcher-turned assassin named Bean Ball who kills via baseball to the head. The Mask's forces this issue also include a (tragically unseen) criminal scientist named Doc Greazbl.
Finally, Whiz Comics 011 features the Mask's second eccentric artillery emplacement of the year, in a penthouse apartment overlooking New York Harbor. Fun!
(this is also the issue in which the Mask is established to be very racist... less fun)
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